Rick Pearson

Writer

Rick Pearson has been the Chicago Tribune’s chief political reporter since 1998, having joined the newspaper as a state legislative correspondent a decade earlier. He has covered Illinois and national politics for more than three decades, including the last four presidential contests. In addition to his duties at the Tribune, he hosts a Sunday show on politics on WGN AM-720 and can be seen frequently on WGN-TV and CLTV.

Recent Articles

In presenting his first budget proposal, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker dispensed with some of the traditional practices of his predecessors, replacing smoke and mirrors with hopes and prayers. “It’s a tradition in true keeping with our democracy and a task that requires humble honesty and some...

Comparing Illinois’ financial morass to the challenges the state faced during the Great Depression, Gov. J.B. Pritzker used his first budget address Wednesday to lay out the initial stages of a multiyear road map that ultimately depends upon voters approving a graduated income tax. In a 37-minute...

Comparing Illinois’ financial morass to the challenges the state faced during the Great Depression, Gov. J.B. Pritzker used his first budget address Wednesday to lay out the initial stages of a multiyear road map that is ultimately dependent upon voters approving a graduated income tax. In a 37-minute...

Susana Mendoza’s TV ads in the mayor’s race focus on her personal story: a skilled soccer player who overcame gender bias to play with the boys after her family fled Little Village’s crime for the safety of the suburbs. Mendoza’s political story is a little more Chicago conventional: Her steady...

Dairy magnate and investor Jim Oberweis said Monday he is giving up the state Senate seat he has held since 2013 to launch a Republican challenge against first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood in 2020. Oberweis, of Sugar Grove, a frequent candidate at the federal level who owns Oberweis...

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration issued a plan Thursday to deal with Illinois’ chronically underfunded public pensions that called for injecting more cash from a proposed graduated income tax, spreading payments out over a longer period, adding $2 billion in debt and selling state assets that...

Difficult times in Bill Quigley’s life instilled in him an ethic to be productive, to work hard, to seek to do the right thing and believe in the potential of success — all things he passed along to his children. William “Bill” Earl Quigley, an orphan adopted during the Great Depression and a military...

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration on Friday set the stage for a low-expectations budget plan later this month, attacking former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner for driving Illinois “into a financial ditch” that will take years to pull out of. “Rebuilding a strong financial foundation...